FIG. 37 shows the construction of a conventional AV switcher (refer to Japanese Published Patent Application No. Hei.5-83646).
In FIG. 37, reference numeral 1 denotes an AV switcher, numeral 2 denotes a key operation unit, numeral 3 denotes a light-receptive unit for receiving an optical remote control signal, numeral 4 denotes a waveform shaping circuit, numeral 5 denotes an EEPROM for holding the remote control signal, numeral 6 denotes a CPU, numerals 7˜10 denote N pieces of light-emitting units for converting the remote control signals outputted from the CPU 6 into infrared remote control signals of predetermined levels, respectively, and numerals 11˜14 denote output terminals for optical fiber cables which are provided correspondingly to the respective light-emitting units 7˜10. Further, reference numerals 15˜18 denote optical fiber cables for transmitting the infrared rays to light-receptive units of plural AV devices (not shown), numerals 19˜21 denote signal (video/audio) input terminals, numeral 22 denotes a switching circuit for outputting a required signal according to a switching signal 23 supplied from the CPU 6, numeral 24 denotes an output terminal for outputting the signal selected by the switching circuit 22, and numeral 26 denotes a remote controller corresponding to one of the AV devices constituting this system.
In this prior art, when a VTR is connected to the terminal 19, the switching circuit 22 is placed at a position A by manual operation to connect a signal from the VTR to the output terminal 24. Further, the user must operate the remote controller aiming at the AV switcher 1.
In the prior art, there is an inconvenience that, in the system construction where the plural AV devices are connected to the display via the AV switcher, the user must operate the remote controller corresponding to one of the AV devices to manually select the AV device while aiming the remote controller at the AV switcher. On the other hand, the user is apt to operate the remote controller of the AV device connected to the display while aiming the remote controller at the display. Therefore, when the AV device and the display are placed apart from each other, remote control does not effectively work if the user operates the remote controller aiming at the display.